During Departure and Arrival, the pilot is generally tasked with multiple aspects of aircraft control and guidance, and therefore experiencing high cognitive demands. A change request to an assigned runway that is received during a Departure or Arrival procedure requires a timely analysis to determine its effect on relevant factors, and the analysis requires integrating inputs from a variety of sources. The analysis includes, but is not limited to, effects on aircraft performance calculations, effects on initialization and mode settings, potential reconfiguration of flaps, potential reconfiguration of engine thrust systems, and potentially new departure briefings.
Therefore, when the pilot receives a change request to an assigned runway during a Departure or Arrival, the pilot's cognitive demand often increases. As may be appreciated, the increase in pilot workload associated with a runway change request may be proportionate to the magnitude of the runway change. Therefore, improved systems and methods for runway change evaluation are desirable.
Accordingly, improved systems and methods for the evaluation of runway changes that analyze the effect of the runway change on relevant factors, and provide intuitive visual feedback of the analysis, are desired. The following disclosure provides these technological enhancements, in addition to addressing related issues.